New Developments

Loki: Chapter 20

Cities have had a revolutionary
effect on Creature life -- first of all, young adults now have
a much better opportunity to meet potential spouses than they
did before the idea came along. It is now typical for a rural
young adult, after leaving hir parents' nest, to stay single and
live in a city for a number of years before settling down into
a nest and having children. Also, to the great consternation of
religious leaders, the nest concept is becoming blurred within
some of the larger cities -- there are some Creatures who reject
the idea of the nest and instead form ``super-nests'' of hundreds
or even thousands of Creatures. These ``super-nests'' provide
little more than economic support -- sort of a co-operative for
single mothers. The city laws are very simple, however. Much like
the Old West towns of the United States, most cities have outlawed
theft, assault, murder, fraud, and disturbing the peace, and other
activities non-conducive to commerce -- at least within their
borders. Most cities are willing to look the other way regarding
things that happen outside their borders, so duels and such tend
to take place immediately outside the city limits.

The Creatures have, since the
development of Civilization, shown an affinity for warm environments.
The reasons are twofold: First, the metabolism operates more efficiently
in warm environments, cutting down on the amount of food a Creature
must consume per relative day. Secondly, Creatures which live
in warm surroundings are less prone to future shock. (Future shock
(from Future Shock} by Alvin Toffler) is the stress which an organism
feels when its environment changes too fast for it to adapt. Toffler
compares it to the well-documented phenomenon of culture shock).
Because of this, the more wealthy nests of any given city tend
to have their homes built near the volcano, and often make use
of artificial heating as well.